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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OP HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S
RE O R B
T.
GOVERNMENT)
COPY NO. ***'
C.P. 159 (55).
C A B I N E T .
THE ITALO-ABYSSINIAN DISPUTE.
(Note by the Secretary.)
The Prime Minister has instructed me to
circulate for the information of the Cabinet the
attached Conclusions of a Meeting he held with the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the
Minister for League of Nations Affairs on Tuesday,
August 6th.
(Signed) M.P.A. HANKEY.
Secretary to the Cabinet.
, Whitehall Gardens, S.W.1.,
6th August, 1935.
fgnris rOQIIMENT S " F PROPERTY OP PIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY* S GOVERNMENT.)
T
- S E C R E T
1TT
COPY Mo .
­
CONCLUSIONS OP A CONVERSATION AT No,10,
DOWNING STREET, ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 6,
1935, at 2.30 p.m.
P R E S E N T
The Right Ron. Stanley Baldwin,
Prime Minister.
The Right H o n . Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt
G.O,S.I.,G .P.E.,C M G.,M.P.,Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs
The Right Hon. Anthony Eden, M.C.,M,P.,
Minister for League of Nations
Affairs.
Sir Robert Vans it tart, G .C*M,G ,,K .C ..P.* ,M .V.0..;
Permanent Under-Seeretary of State for
Foreign Affairs.
Colonel Sir M.P.A. Hankey, G .0 .B .,G .0 .M.G .,e
Secretary to the Cabinet.
.0 .V .0
This Meeting was held in order to enable the
Minister for League of Nations Affairs to report
the results of the recent Meeting of the Council
of the League of Nations at Geneva to the Prime
Minister and the Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs, and for the three Ministers to confer on
the line to be taken by the Minister for League of
Nations Affairs at the forthcoming Meetings of the
three Powers signatories to the Abyssinian Treaty
of 1906,
The Minister for League of Nations
Affairs
reported that at Geneva the French representatives
had acted markedly in line with the British.
applied
This
especially to M . Leger.
It was noted that this development was in
conformity with the wishes of the Cabinet (Cabinet 40
(35),
Conclusion 1 ) .
Ministers were informed that the probable course
of events next week ^ould be Anglo-French
for a, day or two
Conversations
after which the tripartite discus­
sions would begin.
In the course of the discussion reference was m a d e
to an interim Memorandum by the Chiefs of Staff SubCommittee on the military
implications of the appli­
cation of Article XVI of the Covenant of the League
of Nations
(G.0.S.-388) which had been sent to the
Ministers present pending the working out of details,
which was still In progress.
The attitude to b e adopted by the Minister for
League of Nations Affairs at the forthcoming Meetings,
and certain other matters arising
were discussed
consequentially,
, and Conclusions w e r e reached which
may be strnmarised as follows:­
(a) That the Minister for League of Nations
Affairs should do his utmost to maintain
t h e close relations already established
with the French Government on the ItsJ oAby s s inlan dis put e:
(b) That In the preliminary conversations
with the French Government his aim should
be to establish a. programme for later
discussion with the Italian representative.
This programme would probably have to be
drawn in such manner as to bring home to
the Italian representative that the
ultimate choice before Italy lay between
the following alternatives:­
(i) Acceptance from'Abyssinia of certain
concessions on points in the Italian
case which His Majesty's Government
h a v e already told the British
Ambassador in Rome (who did not have
occasion to use them.) that they could
support, if the case was made out, vi/z t ­
"(l) in so far as threats to, or violations
of, the Italian frontiers are concerned.:
(2)
In respect, of aggressions? s-noh as Walwal
affray if proved against Abyssinia to
our satisfaction and that of the League
of Nations:
(3) in respect of breaches - if proven - of
treaties between Italy and Abyssinia.
Further
(4)
in a general way His Majesty'a Government
would be willing to support" Italy in
pressing Abyssinia, to permit to Italians
and. other foreigners the usual and reason­
able facilities for trade, habitation etc.
with regard to which she has been
obstructive in the past:
(5) as regards slavery His Ma.iesty s Govern­
roent could support insistence on Abysss inia
putting into force such, future mess tires as
the League may think necessary and. remedying
past failures to carry out her obligations
in this mat t er. "
T
( elegram to Rome Mo .565, of July 1.9th.)
m
It was foreseen, however, that there was no
prospect of so limited a programme sufficing
to bring Italy to an accommodation.
he
indications were that the French Government
would propose to apply joint suasion at Addis
Ababa with a view to extracting a maximum offer
from. Abyssinia.
It was also pointed out that
the m o r e attractive the offer to be induced,
the better would be the prospects of the first
course and the less the prospect of having to
consider the alternative course below. Possibly
the French Government might have other additions
to suggest, and the Minister for League of
Nations Affairs m i g h t , at his discretion, remind
them that they had. never made any concession
to Italy comparable with the British cession
of Jubaland .
m
OR
f ii) The carrying out by the League of Nations of
the procedure laid down in the Covenant,
including, in the last resort, consideration
by the members of the League of their obliga­
t ions thereurider .
In any reference to this latter aspect the Minister
for League of Nations Affairs should be guided by
the approval given by the Cabinet to the lines
suggested by the Secretary of state for Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, July 24th, where he indi­
cated that in discussions with the French
"^he underlying assumption would b e
that both Powers realised their
obligations and were jointly
interested to find a way out of
the difficulty".
The Minister for League of Nations Affairs
would, of course., b e on his guard, against
giving the French Government any opportu­
nity to suggest to Italy that we were
pressing their to commit themselves to
sanctions. Any detailed discussion of
sanctions should be avoided, as this
does not arise at present and, if it
arises at all, belongs rather to discus­
sions at a later'stage.
c) That the Minister for League of Nations Affaire
who would be accompanied, by the Permanent Under
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in
Paris, should, as far as possible, keep in
touch with the Prime Minister, who would be
in France at the time of the Meetings, and
in particular should arrange to report the
position verbally to him after the conclusion
of the Meetings, in order that h e might decide
whether, and when, to summon a Meeting of the
Cabinet.
It appeared probable to the Ministers
present that if the Paris Meetings did not
produce a satisfactory result, a Meeting of
the Cabinet would be required before the end
of August, when important decisions might be
necessary .
Lake, Tsana .
d) That if the three-Power Conference should
not achieve a satisfactory result, the
question of Lake Tsana would become important,
and the Minister for League of Nations Affairs
should have discretion to w a r n the Italian
representative that this was an important
British interest. He might repeat the
warning given by Sir Edward. Grey (afterwards
Earl Grey of Fallodon) in 19IS:"
e) That in the meantime the Foreign Office­
should examine the question of Lake Tsana
in its political and technical aspects
and
consult the Defence Departments on any aspects
of the question which might concern them:
Defence Aspects.
f) That the Secretary to the Cabinet and Committee
of Imperial Defence should, inform the Chiefs
of Staff Sub-Committee that the Prime Minister
would be glad if they would consider the
following questions:­
(l) At once to examine the question of
what the position would be if Italy
took the bit between her teeth:
(S) On the assumption that the contingency
referred to in (.1) might take place,
are there any steps that ovight to be
taken at once to provide against it?
In this latter connection the Secretary
of State for Foreign Affairs said that the
Foreign Office would have no objection to
any relatively quiet steps being
taken, such as, for example, the
raising of the anti-aircraft
defences of Malta to the approved
scale. They would not even object
if the movement of anti-aircraft
guns b eearae publie.
Whitehall Gardens, S . W . 1 ,
August 6, 19 3 5 .